Name: Class:

Topic: Date:

Vocabulary Main Ideas/Questions

• How does a thermostat work?
• How does a refrigerator keep food cold?
• What are the energy transformations in a car engine?

• heating appliance • A device that converts electric energy into thermal energy is a heating
appliance.
Curling irons, coffeemakers, and clothes irons are some examples of heating
appliances

• thermostat A thermostat is a device that regulates the temperature of a system

• Most thermostats contain a bimetallic coil made of two types
of metal joined together and bent into a coil.
• refrigerator
• A device that uses electric energy to transfer thermal energy
from a cooler location to a warmer location is called a
refrigerator.
• In a refrigerator, a coolant is pumped through pipes on the
inside and the outside of the refrigerator.

• heat engine • A heat engine is a machine that converts thermal energy into
mechanical energy.

Summary • The two different metals in a bimetallic coil inside a thermostat expand
and contract at different rates. The bimetallic coil curs and uncurls,
depending on the thermal energy of the air, pushing a switch that turns
a heating or cooling device on or off.
• A refrigerator keeps food cold by moving thermal energy from inside
the refrigerator out to the refrigerator’s surroundings.
• In a car engine, chemical energy in fuel is transformed into thermal
energy.
Some of this thermal energy is then transformed into mechanical
energy.

many devices transform energy from one form to another or transfer

energy from one place to another, the total amount of energy does
not change.